1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to sporting equipment and, more particularly, to a helmet and system capable of detecting helmet-to-helmet collisions.
2. Description of the Related Art
One of the more recent additions to the list of penalties in the game of professional football is the so-called helmet-to-helmet contact rule. Generally, the rule forbids a player, typically a defensive player, from using their helmet to tackle or otherwise strike the helmet of an opposing player. This action is considered to be more egregious if the opposing player is the quarterback, or if the player being struck is a receiver in a temporarily defenseless position while in the act of catching a thrown ball. The policy behind the rule is to prevent injury to players, especially concussions.
This violation is particularly difficult to detect since there can be very little difference between a legal contact and an illegal contact. Inevitably, in the course of a game, a helmet-to-helmet contact penalty becomes the source of controversy, as instant replay shows that a referee failed to call a penalty after a helmet-to-helmet collision, or the referee incorrectly called such a penalty for a legal hit. Since the violation comes with a stiff penalty, an incorrect call may possibly have a dramatic effect on the outcome of the game.
Methods already exist for transmitting impact data to a central computer, which permit personnel on the sideline to determine if a serious impact has occurred. For example, see US 2001/0181418. However, to date, there is no system that is able to detect if a helmet is impacting another helmet. More particularly, no system exists that is able to determine exactly which helmet is impacting with another helmet.
It would be advantageous if helmet-to-helmet collisions could be more easily detected by a referee.
It would be advantageous if means existed for automatically detecting a helmet-to-helmet collision in real-time.
It would also be advantageous to automatically identify exactly which helmets are involved in helmet-to-helmet collisions.